Caitlin walks into Jitters the next morning. The circles under her eyes have gotten worse. This is the third night she's gotten next to no sleep. Barry didn't answer her call, but she didn't try too hard. She didn't want to bother him.

"Well you look like hell." Caitlin looks up to see Iris standing in front of the table before sitting down across from her. "Take it the gala wasn't amazing." She smirks at her.

Caitlin glares dramatically at her. "How're Joe and Wally doing?" Caitlin asks to change the subject.

"Rocky. But they'll get there. Right now, I'm just trying to get him to go visit mom." Iris groans. "How could you not go so see your dying parent?"

"If you're not ready to accept that they're dying." Caitlin says. "I worked in a hospital long enough during my residency to know that plenty of people think death will wait for them to accept it. That think avoiding it will make it disappear."

"How did you convince them they're wrong?"

"I didn't. Death did." Caitlin says, giving Iris an apologetic look. "Sometimes people need a little tough love. That needs to come from their loved ones though, not their doctor."

"You think I need to force him?" Iris asks.

"No. Definitely don't do that." Caitlin shakes her head. "Remind him what he's about to lose. Be blunt. Let him know he's not getting it back."

Iris takes a deep breath. "What if I don't know?"

"Then ask him. Sit down with him and ask him about her. Then tell him." Caitlin suggests.

They're both silent for a few minutes. "So. The gala?" Iris says, smirking at Caitlin. Caitlin glares at her. "Oh c'mon. I got my advice, time for you to get yours."

Caitlin groans. "It wasn't the gala. Well, kinda. Okay one, Patty thinks I'm cheating on Barry with the Flash." Iris snorts at this, burying her face in her arms. "Yeah. So, that's fun. Two, I'm sure Joe told you Thawne is back." Iris nods. "Well that's been...not great. I shut down, as always. And I know Barry needed someone to talk to, but I just...I can't be that person with Thawne."

"I heard you two got a place together." Iris says, trying to maybe cheer the subject up. "Are you ready for that?"

"I thought I was." Caitlin says softly. "Barry's biggest weakness is Thawne. He needs someone to be there and...when it comes to Thawne...I just can't be."

"Why not?" Iris asks.

"Because I'm not done with him. I don't think I'll ever be. Being near him, near the thought of him, the idea of him, it scares me. I'm scared what it will bring out in me."

"Like what, Caitlin? You're not him." Iris says reassuringly.

Caitlin looks up and shakes her head. "But I can be." She sighs, throwing her head back, knowing she just had this conversation with Cisco and at the time, it felt like what he said worked, but it never will.

"Then lean on Barry. While you two definitely amplify each other's stubbornness and pride, you also bring out the best in each other. Bring out the good. Stop trying to face Thawne or get over Wells for Barry or be there for him to get through it. Be there with him. And let him be there with you." Iris reaches across and grabs Caitlin's hands. "Don't let him be a weakness for each of you. Let him be something that strengthens both of you."

Caitlin smiles weakly at her and squeezes her hands. "Thanks, Iris."

Iris smiles widely at her. "Anytime. Y'know, we really should look into opening up a therapy clinic. We're getting good at this."

"I don't think other people have the same type of problems we have." Caitlin laughs.

"All problems are inherently the same, aren't they? People being stubborn, or not communicating."

"Murderous fathers from the future. Sick mothers from the past. Speedsters, and gorillas, and-"

"Okay, okay, so maybe not all problems." Iris laughs.

The two girls finish their coffee and part ways, Caitlin heading to S.T.A.R. Labs for the day.

***********************************

"You're here early." Cisco groans to Barry who is sitting in Caitlin's lab.

"Yeah. Couldn't really sleep."

Cisco goes to sit next to him. He leans over to look at him out of the corner of his eye. "Why so sad, Flash?"

Barry breaks a small smile and looks at him. "She's keeping things from me. Big things. She's not letting me in and that scares the hell out of me."

"You're not gonna lose her, Barry." Cisco assures him. "Don't assume if she isn't telling you something that she doesn't want you to know. You're the most important person in her life, Bar. She's scared of running you off. She thinks a thousand times longer about things before she tells you." He chuckles.

"What's so funny?" Barry asks narrowing his eyes at him.

"Just something Jay said last night." Cisco says. Barry eyes him, urging him to continue. Cisco groans, realizing he probably shouldn't have said anything. "He uh...ooh." He rubs the back of his neck.

"What'd he say, Cisco?"

"He said that maybe she was telling him things before you because she felt safer with him." Cisco looks up and away and back and all around the room as he says this hoping Barry won't catch some of it.

Barry's eyes widen. "What?" He snaps. "What'd she say?"

"That it was easier to tell him since she wasn't as close to him." Cisco assures him.

Barry lets out a deep breath and a small smile. "I know he has feelings for her, I just hoped he wouldn't pursue them."

Cisco purses his lips. "Mild pursuit." He says.

Barry runs his hands through his hair and drops his head. "What do I do?" He mumbles.

"Give her time when she needs it. When she starts to get distant, ask." Cisco informs him. "But don't distance yourself from her when she drifts. It'll make it worse. And if you both need your time, just...talk. You two suck at that sometimes."

Barry chuckles. "I know. It's just...I didn't feel distant until Thawne."

"Thawne is always gonna be a barrier for you two until you face him together. Stop seeing him as something that could separate you."

"I don't." Barry defends.

"But she does." Cisco reminds him. "He's always going to be the thing that could take you away from her." Barry sighs. "Talk. To. Her." Cisco scolds.

Barry leans back in his chair, nodding. They sit in silence for a few moments.

"Oh...and Patty?" Cisco starts. Barry looks at him. "She thinks the Flash is Caitlin's mistress."

Barry snorts laughing. "She what?"

"Guess she saw you two kiss after the whole Christmas bomb thing." Cisco tells him. "I learned a lot last night. Just a fly on the wall...in people's ears."

Barry laughs and the two head into the cortex where Cisco starts to work and Barry heads down to the pipeline, just missing Caitlin.

"You look terrible." Cisco says to Caitlin.

"Why thank you." She slumps in the chair next to him.

"Oh c'mon. I just got done cheering up Barry, do I have to cheer you up too?"

"He's been avoiding me." She groans. "Why's he in a bad mood?"

"Because you've been avoiding him." Cisco argues.

"Have not!" She defends.

"Not physically. But emotionally." She raises an eyebrow at this. "You're not telling him things. Things that now most of us know. And it's obvious enough that one member of Team Flash thinks you don't feel safe with Barry."

"That was weird, right?" Caitlin sits up and leans closer to Cisco. "I didn't know what to say to that."

"Yeah it was awkward to listen in on." Cisco admits. "Do you feel safer with Jay?"

"Hell no. I feel as safe as humanly possibly with Barry, but that was so...not why I'm not talking to him about things. I really hope he doesn't bring that up again." She presses her forehead against the table.

"Oh boo. Having two people falling for you isn't the end of the world." She turns her head and glares at him. "Okay this specific situation might not be ideal."

She hums an 'mhmm' and stares back at the desk.

"You need to talk to him." Cisco scolds. "Like...today."

"Fine."

"Well you two look productive." Joe says as he walks in with Harry on his heels.

"They never do." Harry groans, walking immediately over to his desk.

"So, we got the Turtle?" Joe confirms.

Cisco nods, a smile on his face. "From Hell's heart I stab at thee." He recites dramatically.

"Alright, Captain. We have other problems that I've recently discovered." Caitlin informs them.

Harry and Joe turn to her.

"That serum you gave Jay." She says looking at Harry who nods. "It's killing him."

"Not fast enough apparently." Harry spits.

"Jay's dying?" Cisco asks.

Caitlin nods. "I couldn't figure out why he was so against the Velocity serum." Cisco turns his head at this. "Uh...speed force serum." She tells him. "So, I did a little looking and...his cells are decaying. Started dying even faster after he took that dose to save you." She looks at Harry. "I don't think Zoom stole his speed. I think he lost it naturally."

"Can we save him?" Joe asks.

"I don't know. But I'm gonna try." Caitlin says. Harry scoffs. "Hey." She scolds. "Saving his life aside, if we can figure out how to reverse it, maybe we can make the serum safe. And maybe...we can figure out how to make it worse...and give it to Zoom." She suggests.

Harry turns to her. "That's what the Turtle is for."

"No use. The Turtle is dead." Jay announces as him and Barry run into the cortex.

"What?" Joe, Caitlin, and Cisco all say together.

The six of them make their way down to the pipeline to see the cell door open to a dead man. Caitlin goes and kneels next to Turtle, Barry squatting down next to her, scanning him and checking him over.

"Looks like an acute brain aneurism." She says, looking up at Barry, then over to the others.

"Could be pulling a Juliet." Cisco comments.

"He's dead, Cisco." Caitlin assures him.

"Dammit." Joe snaps quietly behind the others. "Do we have a plan B?"

"No. But it sure seems like convenient timing." Jay says, staring at Harry.

"Convenient for who, Garrick?" Harry says, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "This man was the best chance I had to save my daughter, the last chance I had to save my daughter. Why would I want him dead?"

Jay glares at him and Harry steps closer. "Okay you two." Joe says, pulling them apart. "Let's go discuss a plan B. No use is stressing over a dead Turtle."

Cisco chuckles and follows them out.

"What are you thinking?" Barry asks Caitlin who is still staring at Turtle. Everyone has cleared out.

She moves over to squat down next to him. She shows him the scan. "Tell me that looks like an aneurism." She pleads.

"Well, I don't know what an aneurism looks like, but it does look like a puncture wound." He says, looking over the scan.

"Dammit. That's what I was afraid of." She leans her forehead on his shoulder. "This got more complicated." She groans.

"We'll figure it out." He puts his arm around her. "We'll figure all of it out. I promise."

"Barry! Caitlin!" They hear shouting through the intercoms. "Get up here now!"

Barry grabs Caitlin and runs up to the cortex to see Cisco on the ground seizing.

"Get him in my lab." Caitlin orders, running into her lab. Once he's laying down, she scans him and leans over her desk to look at her computer.

"What's happening?" Joe asks.

"He's experiencing an uncontrollable amount of electrical energy in his brain. It's putting him in a prolonged state of chronic seizing." Caitlin explains.

"Can you stop it?" Barry asks in a panic.

"I don't know. Hold him down." She orders, looking through her autoinjectors for something to sedate him.

"We're trying." Joe grunts, doing his best to hold Cisco still.

"Sedate him, Snow. Now!" Harry shouts at her.

She finds the one she's looking for and turns around to inject Cisco with the sedative. His seizing slows until it stops. Harry and Joe back off from him and sigh. They all jump back again when Cisco's body becomes transparent and he appears to sink halfway into the bed.

"What is happening?" He shouts. "Where am I?"

"Cisco!" Caitlin walks closer to the bed, trying to grab him but grabs nothing.

"It's the timeline." Harry explains in a rushed breath. "When you captured Reverse Flash, we ruptured the timeline. Cisco is being affected by the changes to the timeline. We have to restore it." He turns to Barry who has been pacing and running his hands through his hair in a panic. "You have to send him back to the future as quickly as you can."

Barry stops and glares at Harry "What are you-"

"Barry!" Harry shouts.

"I just caught him." Barry yells, stepping toward Harry. "You want me to let him go?"

"Keeping him here is killing Cisco!"

"Barry if this is the only way we can save him you gotta do it! You gotta let go of Thawne." Joe yells.

"Barry." Caitlin says sternly, grabbing his arm and pulling him back into the cortex. "Barry. It's your choice. But you have to do your part. I'm gonna go in there and keep our friend alive as long as I can, but you need to let him go." She gives him an apologetic and hurt look. "Don't let him take anything else from us. Not Cisco." Her voice cracks toward the end. Caitlin leans her head against his chest before walking back to the bed to care for Cisco.

Barry storms out and Harry follows. When Barry gets to the pipeline he stops, puts his hand on the wall by the control panel and takes a deep breath. He fists his hand and hits it against the wall.

"Allen." Harry says calmly behind him. Barry doesn't turn immediately. He takes another deep breath and slowly turns. "I'll get him. Bring him up." Harry offers. Barry clenches his jaw and walks out. "Allen!" Harry calls. "This Thawne...he'll face his fate one day. But right here. Right now. You can save your friend." Barry tightens his face and nods, exiting the pipeline.

Up in her lab, Caitlin is doing everything she can to stop Cisco's bleeding, seizing, disappearing, and just general not great situation.

"Caitlin." Joe tries to calm her. "Caitlin." He says more sternly, gently putting a hand on her arm. "Stop. You can't help him until Thawne is gone." Caitlin stares back at him with a hurt expression. "Trust Barry."

"I do." She says softly.

"Then step back."

She looks over at Cisco and steps back toward Joe. He puts his arm over her shoulder. "It's gonna be okay, kid."

Barry runs back in a few minutes later to see Caitlin sitting next to the bed, holding Cisco's hand, her head resting on the edge of the bed. Cisco grumbles and shifts in bed before opening his eyes.

"What happened?" He groans.

"I think you vibed one dimension too far." Harry says with a smirk.

"I gotta stop doing that." Cisco says. Joe snorts laughing next to Barry who is standing back. "And Thawne?"

"Back in his time." Barry says matter-of-factly. Cisco widens his eyes. "I couldn't let him take anyone else from us. Especially not my best friend." Barry gives him a half-hearted smile.

Cisco smiles back and starts shifting around in bed. "Why is the bed wet?"

"You peed yourself." Caitlin says flatly.

"Did not." He defends.

She raises an eyebrow and a corner of her mouth. "Cisco. You had a major seizure for a few minutes. It's very common to lose bladder control."

"I did not pee myself." He mumbles, crossing his arms.

"So...you don't want me to get you a change of clothes?" She asks.

He glares at her. "Yes, please." He mumbles. She smiles at him and walks out.

"I'm going to Big Belly Burger. Anyone want anything?" Harry announces.

"Two triple-triples." Cisco raises his hand.

"Got money?" Harry asks. Cisco groans. Harry smiles and walks out.

Caitlin walks back in with a clean set of clothes. She hands them to Cisco and walks out to let him change then comes back in. Barry is now sitting on the other side of the bed.

"Okay you two. Talk time. Now." He orders, looking between them.

They both take a deep breath and look at each other.

"Where do I start?" She asks Barry, her voice soft.

"Wherever you want?" His eyes are forgiving.

"It's nothing we haven't discussed before. I guess I just can't...I can't get rid of him. Barry my uh...my doppelganger...she's working with Zoom." Barry's eyes widen at this, but in surprise. Not horror. "She broke, and all the good she tried to do...just didn't matter anymore. And Barry...the other Barry he said she was a lot like me before it happened. Ever since I found out about Wells...I've been scared that I would become like him and...she did."

"She isn't you." Barry says calmly. "Even if she is Caitlin. Even if some version of me thinks she was like you...he doesn't know you. I do. We do." Barry motions to Cisco. "You're too strong. Too good."

"Not strong enough to be there for you when you need me." She says, her voice weak. "Not with him."

"Then be there with me." Barry says. "I can't face it alone. Neither can you. Face it with me." Barry turns to Cisco. "Together we're stronger." He looks back to Caitlin. "And uh...we might want to consider letting Patty in on the whole Flash thing. She's pretty pissed about last night. And I don't want her thinking the Flash stole you from me."

Caitlin laughs and Cisco rolls his eyes. "She's a detective. How has she not figured it out? Man, she's seen your face all up close and still can't tell it's you?"

"She thought it was Jay." Barry says. "After she saw him help Harry."

Caitlin snorts at this. "Well she's not entirely wrong."

"Wait, so what was Earth 2 me like?" Barry asks.

"Yeah, and did you meet me?" Cisco asks. "Was I like a tech-billionaire or an international model?"

The three talk and laugh about Caitlin's experience on Earth 2. Her interactions with Barry and Iris, Harry's employees, and being arrested. Caitlin tries to explain Iron Heights to Cisco who is determined to steal their idea.

"Wait, wait. So, Ronnie got you kicked out of Barry and Iris's wedding?" Cisco laughs.

"Yeah. Apparently, Earth 2 Ronnie is quite the drinker." Caitlin says.

"Harry!" Cisco calls as he sees him walking in with a bag of food. "Why didn't you tell me Earth 2 Iron Heights was so great?"

"If I told you all the things my earth does better than yours, I'd be talking all week." Harry smirks at them.

"Don't think you're capable of talking that much." Cisco groans, laying back in his bed.

Harry walks up and hands Caitlin a box of cheese curds. She gasps and squeals, sitting up and opening the box. She smiles up at him and he gives her a small smile back.

"What the hell? She gets food?" Cisco sits back up. Harry doesn't answer.

"Not gonna lie, Harry. Your earth sounds pretty great. Don't know why you stay here."

"Trying to rescue my daughter and town from Zoom." He says flatly. "Remember?" He stares at Cisco.

Cisco scoffs. "What genius came up with the name 'Zoom'?"

Harry chuckles sadly and looks down. "I'll tell you." The other three turn to him, listening attentively. "About two years ago, this is on Earth 2 now. The CCPD there, they got a 911 call. A hostage situation, but when the SWAT team got there, there were no hostages. It was a trap. Zoom set a trap in order to show the police that they could not stop him. He killed fourteen officers. Men and women, slaughtered. He left one alive to tell what happened." He takes a deep breath. "That officer described blue lightening...zooming all about as his comrades, brothers and sisters in arms, murdered. That officer considered himself to be the lucky one. Spared in order to tell the tale...until Zoom went to his house that night and killed him too."

Caitlin, Barry, and Cisco are all silent, staring at Harry.

"Anyway...that's how he got the nickname Zoom." Harry stands to leave the cortex.

Caitlin stands to catch up to him. "Harry." She calls. He turns and is taken aback by her wrapping her arms around him. He reluctantly puts his arms around her, but once she presses her head into his chest, he leans his head on hers and hugs back.

She pulls back. "I'm gonna figure this serum out. We're gonna get her back. I promise."

He gives her a weak smile. "Don't make promises you can't keep." He turns to walk away.

"I don't." She calls to him. He turns around and looks at the determination on her face. A small, but sincere smile breaks on his face before he turns and walks out.

A/N:

Hey folks! Sorry for the long break. I was on vacation and took a writing break but I'm back and wanted to update a few chapters before posting. I'm already planning out Book Three in my head and I'm getting excited. I'm getting a little ahead of myself, but hopefully that will help it flow better when we get toward the end of Book Two.

As always, hope you're enjoying it!

Peace and Love! -Ali